Woody who has always been very healthy and physically active had an episode of low back and right thigh pain about a year before pc diagnosis. It eventually went away but has been back for about 6 months now and is not going away. The bone scan on diagnosis was clear but there is a nagging in the back of my brain (yes women even nag themselves) that wont go away. Has anyone had similar pain where metastases eventually were discovered?

There are lots of variety of cases and situations of bone mets. There are some cases where patients have not been previously diagnosed or treated, and they present to their doctors for the first time with symptoms and are initially diagnosed with advanced disease and bone mets on (basically) their first visit. Thirty years ago, this was not uncommon with prostate cancer, but in today's era of PSA testing and early detection it is much more uncommon.

More typically in today's cases which have moved to advanced stages, the doctors order bone scans early and are able to actually monitor the progression to bone mets. What happens when metastasis spreads to the bone is that cancer damages the bone structure which THEN symptoms begin to appear...not the other way around. In other words, if the first bone scan is done before it actually spreads to the bones (a "clear" test result), then the bone scans allow the doctor to monitor the health of the bone and see the spread before symptoms of pain begin to occur. If Woody just had a bone scan and it was "clear", it is unlikely that aches & pains he is feeling now are due to bone mets. While bone scans notorously require a sizeable lesion in order to be detected, pain usually doesn't occur until th lesion gets beyond detectable size.

I am in a similar situation. After months and months of deep, burning inner hip pains, enough to be on meds and need of a cane to walk, and considering my SRT has failed, thought the same thing. My most recent bone scan came up clean, and I am awaiting a meeting with an orthopedic surgeon myself, he will have his own opinion of this scan.

Steve, been there, done that. Woody is (was) avid racquetteball player and when problem first occurred we were sure it was a ruptured disc, however nothing showed up on diagnostic testing - still some sort of nerve damage is most likely cause.

Casey, so sorry about your wife. Woody's stats are pretty good and it seems unlikely that pc is the cause of the pain, but like a lot of men on this forum, he is in such good health it came as an absolute shock to get the diagnosis at all.

Purgatory, I'm not sure what to say, watching your progression is like watching a train wreck, so horrifying I dont want to see but cant force myself to look away. Your willingness to share such personal information is greatly appreciated. Please know it is with the most kindly intentions that I say, "I hope you have a ruptured disc"